com /That1 OtakuDude
His heart was bleeding.
‘I spent ten gold coins just to go out!’
‘It seems that even hijacking a deal comes at a cost!’
‘If I’d known Flender was so easy to talk to, I should have cut down five of them…’
Zhu Zhuqing was indeed in a bad mood, but Lin Feng’s matter-of-fact tone seemed to have some kind of peculiar magic, which made her feel a little better.
She slowly turned her head, her gaze falling on the takeout boxes on the table that smelled of food.
Suddenly, she felt an urge to turn her grief and anger into food.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
The aroma of food made her feel a surge of hunger.
“Eat quickly, it won’t taste as good when it gets cold.” Lin Feng unusually refrained from teasing.
Zhu Zhuqing nodded and silently walked to the table and sat down.
She picked up her chopsticks, without looking closely at what the food was, and just shoved it into her mouth in a fit of revenge.
Each bite felt like chewing on disappointment and anger, or like filling a huge void in one’s heart with food.
She quickly devoured several large portions of snacks!
Lin Feng watched in disbelief.
This girl has quite a good appetite, huh?
He had originally planned to eat a few bites himself, but now there wasn’t even a crumb left.
“Well…”
He touched his nose, looked at the empty takeout box, and exclaimed sincerely, “I didn’t expect you could eat so much besides sleeping…I’m impressed!”
Zhu Zhuqing didn’t laugh, nor could she laugh.
She silently put down her chopsticks, her eyes vacant as she gazed out the window at the gradually descending twilight.
The inner turmoil and confusion were like vines, making her feel trapped in a dead end with no way out, unable to move forward or backward.
Seeing that Zhu Zhuqing was still absent-minded, Lin Feng knew that simple words of comfort would not have much effect on her.
The predicament she faces is far more complex than just heartbreak.
The Star Luo Empire’s royal marriage system and the Zhu family’s shackles are all factors that need to be considered.
‘Should I advise her to cancel the engagement or leave the family?’
That would only make her think that Lin Feng had ulterior motives, or even that he was taking advantage of her vulnerability.
These things can’t be rushed; they require time and strength to resolve gradually.
Right now, the priority is to sever the ties between her and Dai Mubai, and at the very least, prevent them from deepening!
At the same time, give her a path that offers hope.
When she becomes strong enough, she will be able to say no to fate.
“After you eat, take a bath and get a good night’s sleep.
I’m uncomfortable looking at you so lifeless,” Lin Feng broke the silence.
“Oh, by the way, remember to get up early tomorrow.
I need your help with something.”
Hearing this, Zhu Zhuqing was pulled back from her thoughts.
She looked up, a hint of confusion in her eyes: “Help?”
“Okay, I’ll help.”
Lin Feng met her gaze and said, “I’m planning to set up an academy and recruit disciples.
You can come and lend a hand.”
“Open, open an academy?” Zhu Zhuqing was stunned, wondering if she had misheard.
‘This leap seems a bit too big, doesn’t it?’
Lin Feng nodded in confirmation, “That’s right.
Since you haven’t decided whether you want to be my apprentice, I’ll have to find someone else first…”
These words were like a fine needle, piercing a hidden corner of Zhu Zhuqing’s heart, bringing a sense of emptiness.
It was as if something she thought belonged to her was about to be taken away by someone else.
“No!” she blurted out urgently.
“Didn’t you promise to give me three days to think it over?
The time isn’t up yet, why are you…”
She wanted to say, ‘Why did you give up so easily?’
But she swallowed the words back, a sense of grievance written all over her face.
Before Lin Feng returned, she had been sitting for the entire afternoon, forcing herself to think calmly.
Their unexpected encounter, his rescue, and taking her to watch a play in the hotel lobby that afternoon—all seemingly coincidental, actually revealed a carefully calculated scheme.
Therefore, she remained wary of Lin Feng and dared not make a decision easily.
But deep down, a voice inside her is screaming: ‘Say yes!
You’ll regret it for the rest of your life if you miss this opportunity.’
So what exactly is she struggling with?
These next two days are the days when all the major Soul Master academies begin their enrollment process.
Lin Feng chose to reveal his plan to open the academy at this moment to force her to make a choice under pressure!
Anyway, he’s already finished watching the scene about Dai Mubai; it’s the same whether it’s one day or three days later.
“You do your thing, I’ll run my Academy, and we won’t have to do either.”
The purpose of opening an Academy is, of course, to recruit students.
Suddenly, the image of the girl in the pink dress she had seen in the lobby earlier that day flashed through Zhu Zhuqing’s mind!
Lin Feng even made a point of telling her to remember her!
His eyes immediately lit up with a different kind of interest, as if he were very interested.
A strange sense of crisis quietly rose up.
She looked up, her gaze filled with suspicion as she looked at Lin Feng.
It was as if she wanted to see through his handsome face and understand his true thoughts.
Silence filled the room, broken only by the soft breathing of the two people.
Zhu Zhuqing was torn between reason and intuition.
Finally, she took a deep breath and asked, “Can I…can I trust you?”
After asking the question, she breathed a sigh of relief, but couldn’t help but mutter to herself: ‘This bastard is such a jerk!
He promised to give her three days to think it over, but every word he said was like he was pressuring her!’
Lin Feng met her gaze, his eyes deep: “Of course.”
“But whether you believe it or not, the choice is yours.”
Zhu Zhuqing lowered her eyelids, her long eyelashes casting shadows on her fair face, still weighing her options.
Putting aside his stinginess, there didn’t seem to be anything about him that she couldn’t accept.
But, opening an academy?
It requires funding, filing procedures, and qualification verification.
Can he really get it done?
‘He’s so stingy, is he really willing to spend this much money?’
A sly smile played on Lin Feng’s lips.
An academy?
It’s just a convenient name for taking on disciples.
You really want him to be the dean and handle those trivial matters?
No way!
What he cared about was never an academy, but receiving seven personal disciples who could help him reach the pinnacle!
All his energy will be devoted to these seven people.
As for the Academy?
It’s just using the name of an academy for convenience.
Zhu Zhuqing gritted her teeth secretly, and believed him because of his handsome face!
It doesn’t seem like there’s anything wrong with becoming his disciple.
Lin Feng’s strength speaks for itself; he’s a genuine level 79 Soul Saint!
No matter how you look at it, she’s gotten a great deal.
Just as she was about to blurt out, “I’m willing to become your disciple,” something else occurred to her.
‘If I were to become his disciple, would our relationship be reduced to merely a formal master-disciple relationship?’
Yet he is so persistent; it seems that all he wants is the identity of ‘disciple’.
Ugh, this is really frustrating.
But if she doesn’t become an apprentice, this young and powerful man might really do what he said: turn around and leave his world without hesitation.
Thinking about these things made her heart tighten for no reason.
She was suddenly struck by the fact that, in just one day and one night since they met, she had said more to him than she had in the previous months combined.
That instinctive wariness towards strangers had long since vanished before him.
It seemed that just seeing him and hearing his offbeat yet inexplicably comforting voice could bring a sliver of solace to her broken heart.
“Okay, I believe you.”